Tag Archives: Kingdom of God

Is the Rapture teaching Biblical?

Posted on 07/02/2024 | Leave a comment

The Rapture is a comparatively recent teaching. It did not gain momentum until proclaimed by John Nelson Darby, the founder of the Exclusive brethren in England just 200 years ago. It was picked up by an American lawyer called Cyrus Scofield who produced the Scofield Bible. This contains the text of the KJV, but it is full of Scofield’s own annotated commentary. More than any other factor, it is Scofield’s notes that have caused generations of Western evangelicals to accept that God demands their uncritical support for the modern State of Israel. Scofield also highlighted the concept of the Rapture, the bodily ascent to heaven by Christian believers, in his notes about Thessalonians 4:17.

I have researched this subject and found many reasons to reject this teaching and here they are.

First, the teaching of the rapture violates the expectation of the believers who eagerly awaited the return of Christ. It was the hope of believers in the first century that Jesus would return in their lifetime based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:30-34. They eagerly awaited this event to complete their salvation:

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:27-28 my emphasis)

Second, the parables of Jesus, the gospels and the whole NT is all about the coming Kingdom of God, coming to the believers here on earth, from heaven where it has always prevailed. The kingdom was coming down and not going up. The kingdom was already in Heaven! Such a great expectation!

 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  (Mat 6:10)

 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev 21:2)

1 Thessalonians 4:17 is not about believers going up to heaven! The remaining believers affiliated with Christ would be seized (Grk harpazo) into a meeting in the air (Grk, aer), the word Paul used for the space just above the earth’s surface (see 1 Cor 14:9 and Eph 2:2). This ‘meeting’ (Grk., apartesis) is not merely any meeting. The word also occurs in Mat 25:1, 6 and Acts 28:15.  It’s about people going from their city or place to meet and welcome a dignitary and escorting that person back into their city or place. This meeting is in the ‘air’, not in Heaven. Christ comes out of heaven with the resurrected ones who had ‘slept’, to meet together with those who ‘remain alive’ who welcome Him to this planet, not upwards into Heaven !

Third, by teaching that saints would somehow float up to Heaven, it minimizes the expectations of millions, because only a very select few would experience it—those alive at His coming. On the contrary, Paul’s language in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 means that ‘we all will be with the Lord always!’ After His return, he abides in us! See John 14:

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  (John 14:2)

Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. (John 14:23)

Fourth, it also violates the promises in both OT and NT—what all the faithful were expecting, from Abraham to the present (See Heb 11:1-38 and especially vs 39-40).

Fifth, it introduces a dispensation that Christ never taught—this is totally absent from His recorded teachings.

Sixth, it violates Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15 on the nature of the resurrection of the dead.  When the physical body dies it decomposes and is no more. Our physical bodies are not fit for Heaven. We need a spiritual body to be in heaven. The Rapture teaching denies this in suggesting bodies floating up to Heaven. So Paul insisted:

it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (15:43-44)

We shall all die. Even Jesus had to die! As it says in the Letter to the Hebrews:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. (Heb 9:27-28, my emphasis)

Seventh, it interrupts the flow and spread of the kingdom of God on earth, leaving a wide gap in the people of God by taking them away which is clearly not what Jesus prayed for. See John 17:

I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15-16)

Jesus second coming restores us to that state before the Fall. Complete atonement! Rendered sinless for His presence. Further, He promised His disciples He would come within their lifetime:  

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.  “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:27-28)

Until the return of Christ your redemption is incomplete! When our great high-priest has appeared for us out from the heavenly sanctuary having offered his own blood (as per Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9), we are assured our salvation is complete (Heb 9:28). He came out long ago!

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YOU CALLING ME A SHEEP?

Posted on 25/06/2019 | 6 comments

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:1-5

But his hearers did not understand what Jesus was talking about. We saw how in the setting of this long metaphor, the shepherd led them, not drove them—there’s a very intimate and loving relationship between shepherd and sheep. The shepherd gave each a name and taught them to respond to his voice and instructions. At night, he would usually lead them into a safe enclosure, often lying across the entrance thus forming literally the door or gate. Rex beautifully pointed out how flocks from several shepherds might occupy the same place, and when the separation took place, each shepherd going his way, would call his own sheep to follow, and they would follow their own true shepherd knowing his voice, hearing their own name even. Such shepherds would risk their lives protecting them against thieves and robbers and wild animals.

We asked ourselves in our recent discovery meetup, do we also fail to grasp his meanings? So we hearers of the 21st Century set out to explore this and here’s what we found.

Just who were the hearers in this story? The last mentioned were ‘some of the Pharisees’. Here’s  yet another example of the continuous controversy raging between Jesus and the blind ruling church elite (the Jews John calls them!) a fury running right through the gospel story, without any abatement, ending temporarily on his death but continuing till Jesus’ judgment on them in AD70. Jesus had just charged these same blind Pharisees “since you say, ‘we see,’ your sin remains. (John 9:40-41)

So Jesus repeated to them with great emphasis what he had already said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the gate; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Here’s another sensational Messianic bombshell, right in line with the coming next age that was breaking in upon God’s people in Messiah Jesus. In the O.T. the Lord is often pictured as the shepherd (e.g., Psalms 23 & 79) so here Jesus claims to be the only legitimate shepherd, in fact, divine!  Now this is a most momentous change.

It means the end of the old age of Moses and the Law and its replacement by the new Messianic age of Jesus the king is coming! They are in the presence of the shepherd-king! They fall into the category of all who came before, thieves, robbers! The blind Pharisees were meant to be shepherds but were abject failures, maintaining control over the people, the blind leading the blind. The rot had all started back when they rejected God as king and chose their own (1 Samuel 8:7). They hated the idea of a spiritual kingdom and fought to retain their illegitimate position.

The time has come! The Kingdom of God is breaking in. Complete turnaround is demanded.

Are there parallels today? Yes undoubtedly—in the apostate churches where they have CEOs and not true apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers (in the N.T. these are always plural) who emulate the Good Shepherd, not domineering over the flock as Peter wrote but upbuilding and encouraging the flock.

Jesus replaces all these thieves and robbers. For all time! If anyone enters the sheepfold through the Jesus-gate, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. It’s Jesus saying again I am the way, the truth, the life. Our pasture in the friendship and under the Lordship of Jesus is spiritually glorious even in this life and eternally beyond. It is what we were designed for. It is abundant life now and forever! It is rivers of living water. It is unimagined freedom, if the Son shall set you free. It is participation in the Body of Christ by every member, full of the Holy Spirit.

The voice of strangers brings mere religion, speculations, deceit and systems of what to do. Only the voice of Jesus brings salvation. If you really want real salvation you will recognise human ideas, elitism, control, manipulation and pride, and run away from every voice except that of Jesus, like the blind man of the previous story in the gospel. Hear the voice of the good shepherd or be destroyed!

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (10:10)  

Huge! I love what W. F. Howard wrote in The Interpreters’ Bible, 1952 about this abundance, or rather the lack of it:

those who fling their lives away in an avid questing for sensation, seeking to make a collection of experiences as others do of stamps, and esteeming every new experience of any kind an addition to their store, who will get drunk, simply for experience, and touch unholy things that they may taste the whole of life: – they do not realize, poor duped fools, misled by hobbledehoy thinkers, so called, who have cooked these immature ideas into a kind of messy philosophy – they do not realize that in life, as in arithmetic, there is a minus sign as surely as a plus; and that certain experiences do not add to, but subtract from, what we had and were before, each new indulgence in forbidden things leaving us poorer, leaner, emptier, and at length beggared.

Would you be happier in the service of the devil than in the service of God and His Redeemer—you poor, blind deceived fool! Leads to misery! No. You are created in His image and to enjoy life in his glorious abundance!

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

Jesus is the true owner of his sheep. Those who follow him and no other, are not their own. We are not our own if we claim to follow him. There is no middle way. Either you are His, not your own, bought with a price or you are not of His flock. If you are owned by another you will be deceived, lied to, destroyed.  Awake!

 I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know Me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

Here is a most significant and tremendous statement. He knows us who follow him and we know him. How awful it would be to hear the words depart from me, I never knew you (Matthew 7:22). He knows you! All about you. Laid down his life for you and me—he knew you there on the cross.

But there’s even more here: He knows his own and we know him, just like the Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father—with Jesus we have the same intimate relationship that exists between the Father and Jesus!

 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Who are these other sheep? We could see Jesus was thinking of the Gentiles—the people who were not of this (Jewish) fold. He came here for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and we had read in our journey through the four gospels of those who were touched by him and desired to follow him—who else but Jesus? We have met many already in the Gospel of John. But after his death and resurrection the focus moves to the great ‘unwashed’.

Yes. He had us in mind. He thought of you and me. I must bring them also.

He will bring many, many more—there can be no doubt! I must bring them also! It’s his work and though he calls us to partner with him in his work, all the initiative lies not with us, neither the means, neither the results. To him alone be the honour and the praise and the glory.

Here is a strong message to us who earnestly desire the salvation of our neighbours, loved ones, and people we meet in the public sphere. This releases us from the thinking of failure and disappointment that we often have. I must bring them also! they will hear My voice! They will become one flock with all of us!

They will be one flock with one shepherd. This is a certainty because he has declared it. So stop your whinging and doubting and start rejoicing, believing. One flock—not many; one Shepherd, not many. The promise is sure and the result is certain. All else is fake. Do you get it? Oh Lord, help us all who read thus far to truly get it!

Now skipping to verse 27, where Jesus sums it all up: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Not only that but My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

Being his we are exposed to the most unimaginable love and safety. Eternally. Oh the certainty!

What do you desire? Are you ready for all this everlasting abundance?

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JESUS’ LITTLE ONES!

Posted on 10/06/2019 | Leave a comment

The other night we were reading and sharing from Matthew 18. We discovered some startling things that Jesus said to his disciples when they asked him about who would be the greatest in his kingdom.  They did not expect his response, having in mind a realm like the world. He set a little child before them and said,

“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (18:3)

There you have it boys.

To ask such a question showed up their need for conversion from attitudes of importance, self-interest and vanity—attitudes totally at odds with the nature of this kingdom. Such a radical change! How could they possibly become like this child? Everyone in their culture knew that little ones were not worth very much, they were totally dependent on their parents for how they thought, what they said and where there would go. Surely he can’t be serious! Surely there must be some hidden meaning here!

They braced for his further explanation, as by this stage they had to expect to be rattled once more (why keep on following this man –is he a man, or what?). . . . well they hardly knew what! Bombshell #25 or was it 27 or 28 coming?

“Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  (18:4)

The kingdom that Jesus constantly spoke about was a kingdom in which the desire to be important cannot exist at all. Humility is the essential key to entering this kingdom. This is utterly different to all other kingdoms, all of which are destined to fail while Jesus’ kingdom will endure forever, replacing all others. To enter it meant a total reversal of their values, to a dependency clearly demonstrated in the vulnerability and helplessness of a little child, a kind of death and new birth.

 “And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  18:1-6

Just who are these ‘little ones’?

They heard that if they desired to follow Jesus into his kingdom they must be prepared to undergo a radical change and be childlike. Then in this new status—like a little child—they find a new identity: by being ‘little ones’ they would become his agents bringing his message—so amazing that whenever they act for him, then whoever they meet who receives them, it is as if they are receiving Jesus! And conversely, when people come against them, the little ones, Jesus ones who believe, and place stumbling blocks in their path as they carry the kingdom message, the judgment on these would be severe.

“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!  (18:7)

Following Jesus they (and we) can expect many stumbling blocks—the original word is scandalizomai. Whose side do they want to be on? One will join the other side and betray him. Whose side do YOU who reads want to be on? The scandalized or the scandalizers?

This is another step in the training of his emissaries and though there be stumbling blocks to trip them up, impede their progress, Jesus wants them to know the out-of-this –world benefits, the glories, the exaltedness they could expect by humbling themselves under Jesus’ leadership, his easy yoke, his light burden.

And there’s more.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (10)

They must treat other little ones with honour because—think about it—they have angels in the heavenlies who never stop having face to face communication with Jesus’ Father. Wow. Imagine such guidance and protection.

Let’s say that again. You who have humbled yourselves under the Master’s command have the unfathomable privilege and continuous protection of God’s angelic hosts! So never despise any of the little ones!

There are the despisers and the despised. The scandalizers and the scandalized.

Then Jesus told a story of the 100 sheep and searches for the single straying one.  Then finding it, he rejoices over that single one more than over the others. He cares for every single one of us as if each were the only one!

So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. (14)

Only believe! Believe you are a little one. Accept your new status as a little one. And watch!

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THE TRUE FORCE–WITH US

Posted on 10/05/2019 | 2 comments

Last time together we looked at parts of Matthew  7 and John the baptiser. 2- We noted several important matters of great relevance to us today as we think more of the Kingdom of God and Jesus the king.

Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.  Mat 11:2-

We wondered ‘why did John seem confused, disillusioned?’ While in prison, he had heard of the amazing, compassionate works of Jesus. But yet doubts assailed him. Even him.

Yes, even John who had actually seen the Holy Spirit come and land on Jesus when he baptised him and it was John who declared God had sent him to prepare the way for the Messiah, and who exclaimed ‘Look there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’. He had doubts! Also Jane reminded us that even after Jesus’ resurrection we read ‘some doubted’.

Is it any wonder that we sometimes have doubts?

To John and any observant Jew, Jesus seemed to be breaking all the religious rules. Like John, Jesus keeps picking fights with the Jewish leader elites, but not in the way John was expecting—Jesus does not seem to be on the same page. There locked up in a gloomy, uncomfortable prison—hadn’t Jesus said something about releasing the captives? Didn’t Jesus come to establish the Kingdom of God here in earthly Israel and thrash the foreign rulers? Do I look for another?

As the two disciples of John went their way, Jesus asked the crowds about John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? He asked them why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written [in Malachi 3:1] ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Then he stunned them by emphatically saying Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

Since the prophet Malachi, prophesying had ceased as the Jews acknowledged. Now John’s preaching had also ceased, and since then there had been no prophecies concerning the Messiah and his kingdom. The time for prophesying the coming Messiah has ended. He is here!

Christ has now come and he is proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. See what is happening—all the signs of the long-awaited, prophesied One are taking place now! And people then were—and now are in 2019—entering the Kingdom of Heaven. And now any one in Jesus’ kingdom, even the least, is ‘greater’, more influential, than John—they have the most glorious access to the King himself! They have entrance to the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit! They can see an open heaven, where anything is possible should they choose to believe! They are his inheritance, his holy nation!

Such blessed people find no occasion for stumbling in Jesus.

Since John, the last of the OT prophets like Elijah, a line has been drawn in the sand! The Old covenant has passed away and the New has come.

Jesus then said that since John-B the Kingdom of Heaven is being taken ‘by force’. It is now the new covenant under which we, poor, faulty, weak, mortals, despised by the world are yet a mighty force, commissioned to behave with a supernatural force to live out daily the power of God unto salvation, the wonderful Holy Spirit broadcasting to many souls. Now the people of God can be seen behind the scenes, secretly, powerfully, patiently and effectually, and yet not against the wills of others—instruments of Jesus’ love and power—lights in ever growing darkness.

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